High-speed chase ends in crash, arrest in Bernie

This is the wreckage of the suspect vehicle in the parking lot of the old Overturf Drugstore in Bernie. The vehicle is belivied to have been stolen.

DEXTER STATESMAN/Josh Ayers

BERNIE — A high-speed chase ended in a crash Thursday morning as the Bernie Police Department, along with the Missouri Highway Patrol and Stoddard County Sheriff’s Department, apprehended the driver who fled on foot.

Joshua Jones, 27, of McClure, Illinois, was arrested on suspicion of a first-degree felony of tampering with a motor vehicle, resisting arrest by fleeing, careless and imprudent driving, speeding and no seat belt.

According to Jackie Hays with the Morehouse Police Department, a call was received at 9:45 a.m. from On-Star alerting the department of an abandoned 2013 GMC SUV, which allegedly had been stolen from Union County, Illinois.

At 10 a.m., the department received a report of a 1990 Plymouth Voyager minivan having been stolen from the Morehouse area. The van reportedly was located and a pursuit subsequently ensued in Stoddard County with of the deputies from the Stoddard County Sheriff’s Department, with assistance from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Bernie Police Chief Justin Allen said officer(s) with his department deployed a spike strip in an attempt to stop the minivan. Despite missing the spike strip, the driver, later identified as Jones, reportedly lost control of the van, which then crashed through a utility pole and came to a stop in front of the old Overturf Drugstore.

Jones allegedly fled on foot, and after hiding under a nearby house, he took refuge in a shed behind McKuin Lumber. Officers arrested him at that location.